City may start from scratch on its economic development plan

WINTER PARK — As both a businessman and resident of Winter Park, Marc Reicher sees a rising economic wave building in the city, one that will produce stronger commercial growth in the near future.

And as the chairman of Winter Park’s Economic Development Advisory Board, Reicher says the city needs to decide if it should simply update its most recent economic development plan to reflect that – or start an entirely new one as the city emerges stronger from the national recession and economic downturn that battered Central Florida in recent years.

“When you look at a three year plan, you want it to be realistic,” Reicher said. “For me, I thought we were doing a pretty good job kicking through the plan, and we’ve had the advantage of an economic upturn which makes us all look a little bit smarter.”

So now, he asked, should the advisory board start over, and create a new economic development plan modeled on projections of future commercial growth, and how best to manage it, rather than a model based on recovering from a recession.

“I’d rather sharpen our pencils on things that do work,” Reicher said. “I don’t want to spend an entire year trying to rebuild something in a year of growth. I don’t want to become so academic that we lose sight of what is here now.”

The advisory board, which held its monthly meeting on April 15 at City Hall, is considering an update of the city’s current economic development plan. David Buchheit, the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency manager, said what the city has now is the 2012 version of the plan.

“This is the latest version of the plan we have completed,” he said. “When we do this three year update, we’re talking about doing a new plan rather than updating the old plan because a lot has changed.”

He noted, for example, that Winter Park is now considering a real economic game changer: creation of a minor league baseball stadium.

“Our CRA projects are ramping up with the possibility of baseball being on the horizon,” Buchheit said.

The CRA is also launching a study in June of the U.S. 17/92 commercial corridor, he said, which has experienced a lot of growth in recent years.

Reicher said the city’s investment in street improvements, from new sewer and water lines to improved lighting, have also helped attract more companies to the city and make it clear the city is open for business.

With the city facing a much different economic outlook from a few years ago, Buchheit said, “Maybe we say ‘Let that plan that started in 2011 expire, and let’s do a new plan.’ The sky is the limit.”

The CRA has a $100,000 economic development budget, he said, adding that another part of their ongoing mission is to effectively promote the city’s brand. Their slogan is “Winter Park – Every Day – Exceptional,” and the city’s seal called Winter Park the “City of Culture and Heritage.”

Future economic development efforts, Buchheit said, should help convey that message.

“It’s the implementation of the brand that we need to be concerned about,” he said.